Table of Contents

Introduction

Temperature data is possibly the most common information collected by scientists, engineers, and hobbyists. With a TINKERplate, it is possible to connect up to eight temperature sensors to the Digital I/O connector. What follows is some examples of how to read and display the temperature from these sensors.

What You'll Need

A DS18B20 temperature sensor. You can use the one shipped with the TINKERkit that looks like:

And plug it into the mini breadboard which is also in the kit:

If you have never used a breadboard before, here is a tutorial you may find useful: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/references/how-to-use-a-breadboard
Or you can use a DS18B20 that has wires attached like the kind we sell here.
A TINKERplate attached to a programmed Raspberry Pi

Steps

Connections

Connect the sensor to channel 1 of the Digital I/O port on the TINKERplate.
If using parts from the TINKERkit then your setup should look like:

If using a wire sensor then your setup would look like:

Code 1 - Simple

Use the Thonny IDE again to write and run the program as shown below. The output is displayed in the window labeled "Shell" on the bottom.

Again, if you don't feel like typing, here is the code you can copy and paste:

import piplates.TINKERplate as TINK  #load TINKERplate module
import time                          #load time functions
d = '\u00b0'              #create the degree symbol
TINK.setMODE(0,1,'temp')  #setmode
while(True):              #loop forever
    t=TINK.getTEMP(0,1)   #fetch temperature
    #print to the console
    print('Time:',time.ctime(),' - Temperature is:',t,d+'F')
    time.sleep(1)         #delay 1 second

import piplates.TINKERplate as TINK #load TINKERplate module

import time #load time functions

d = '\u00b0' #create the degree symbol

TINK.setMODE(0,1,'temp') #setmode

while(True): #loop forever

t=TINK.getTEMP(0,1) #fetch temperature

#print to the console

print('Time:',time.ctime(),' - Temperature is:',t,d+'F')

time.sleep(1) #delay 1 second

The above code can be downloaded from github by typing the following instructions on the command line:

git clone https://github.com/pi-plates/TINKERplate-Projects.git
cd TINKERplate-Projects
python3 SimpleTemp.py

Code 2 - a Thermometer

Let's make things a -little- more interesting by displaying the temperature on a Meter panel. Again, use Thonny and enter the following program:

This time after clicking the RUN button a panel meter will pop up showing the temperature in large colorful characters:

Here is the code again:

import piplates.TINKERplate as TINK  #load TINKERplate module
import time                          #load time functions
d = '\u00b0'
TINK.setDEFAULTS(0)         #set all digital channel to defaults.
TINK.setMODE(0,1,'temp')    #Set channel 1 to read a temperature sensor
time.sleep(1)               #wait 1 second for stabilization
TINK.openMETER()            #Create a display meter on the screen
TINK.setTITLE('My Thermometer')
while(True):
    temp=TINK.getTEMP(0,1)
    TINK.setMETER(temp,d+'F','Channel 1:')
    time.sleep(1)

import piplates.TINKERplate as TINK #load TINKERplate module

import time #load time functions

d = '\u00b0'

TINK.setDEFAULTS(0) #set all digital channel to defaults.

TINK.setMODE(0,1,'temp') #Set channel 1 to read a temperature sensor

time.sleep(1) #wait 1 second for stabilization

TINK.openMETER() #Create a display meter on the screen

TINK.setTITLE('My Thermometer')

while(True):

temp=TINK.getTEMP(0,1)

TINK.setMETER(temp,d+'F','Channel 1:')

time.sleep(1)